"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." Edmund Burke.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Ill. Gov. Blagojevich sneaks back to Illinois to close parks, cut jobs

While Illinois Senator Barack Obama was preparing to accept the Democratic nomination for president, the governor of his state, fellow Chicago Democrat Rod Blagojevich sneaked back to Illinois to close some state parks and historical sites, as well as cut some jobs.

He was hoping that people wouldn't notice. I did, and so did the local media.

The move outraged lawmakers who just a day before watched the governor hug political rival Michael Madigan, the Illinois House speaker, and talk about a new day of working together.

State Rep. Jack Franks, a Woodstock Democrat, said it's obvious Blagojevich was trying to bury the cuts and closings under all the Obama coverage coming from the national convention.

"Every time he astonishes me on how low he can go," Franks said

The cuts include 325 layoffs among four state agencies - natural resources, historic preservation, human services and children and family services. In addition, 11 state parks and 13 historic sites will close.

Click on the above link to see the list of closed sites.

Two sites with strong Abraham Lincoln ties were among the victims of Blajojevich's pen. One of them is the replica log cabin site near Charleston, Illinois. It was the last home of Lincoln's father and stepmother. The old state capitol in Vandalia will will also close. Lincoln began his career in the state legislature there.

I live in Cook County, Illinois. I'm forced to endure a 10 percent sales tax. Chicago pays 10.25 percent.

Statewide, the US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois is busy investigating our corrupt governor, Rod Blagojevich, and his "pay to play" scandals. You donate money to the governor's campaign, you get a state job or state business.

Blagojevich didn't make tough choices. He could have plenty of time to think about them.

I HOPE THE DAILY HERALD INVESTIGATES,WHAT IS GOING ON IN LAKE COUNTY ILLINOIS DCFS OFFICES IN WAUKEGAN AND ROUND LAKE BEACH. THEY HAVE BEEN EXTREMELY SHORT ON INVESTGATORS AS WELL AS CASEWORKERS FOR OVER 1 YEAR NOW THE CASE LOADS EXCEED WHAT THE LAW MANDATES. NOW THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE IS CUTTING 6 ADDITIONAL POSITIONS. THIS HAS NEVER OCCURED AT DCFS. THEY DEAL WITH THE LIFES OF BABYS AND CHILDREN.IT IS OBVIOUS THAT THE STATE DOES NOT WANT THE MEDIA TO FIND THIS OUT. THERE WILL BE AN OUTRAGE AMONG VOTERS, WHEN THEY FIND OUT CHILDREN'S LIFES ARE BEING PUT AT RISK, BECAUSE THE GOVERNOR AND THE LEGISLATURE PLAY GAMES WITH FAMILIES LIFES.

This is an absolute disgrace on the governor's part. I'm from IL and return there all the time to visit family and friends in Central and Southern IL. Not only are these sites important for me (the wife and I were married at Weldon Springs State Park and go back every anniversary), but are the historical, natural, and cultural treasures of the state. I also work for a company that manages the IL medicaid dental programs...the state of IL paid over a Billion dollars to our company last year for a 5 year contract for administering it's medicaid programs. These people get better dental coverage than I do with my company's employee policy! I realize that a lot of the people that are on Welfare are truly disadvantaged, but there is a large minority of the population that don't need to be on these programs...they're simply too lazy to work (which is another issue altogether). Some of the benefits are completely inappropriate as well...including providing orthodontic benefits to a lot of young people - my parents were poor when I was young...the state never paid for me to have braces...nor would my parents have the audacity to expect the taxpayers to pay for them either. The state of IL in general...and the last two governors specifically have made a mess out of the state's finances and resources. To close these historic sites and state parks due to an "unbalanced budget" is bullsh*t (not to mention the slashing of jobs at DCFS - atrocious by any standard of decency)...they only cost roughly 25 - 30 million dollars annually to fund. There are plenty of places where this could have been resolved...including charging a reasonable admission fee (which several states use to fund these sorts of operations exclusively) or asking for corporate sponsorships (these corporations don't mind letting the dollars flow to politicians to ensure that their special interests are secured...I'm sure that a few of them could be easily convinced to cover the 25-30 million shortfall without much ado). This governor needs to be impeached for the damage that he has done and is continuing to do to this state...completely unacceptable.

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